Especially Lecavalier? Not a chance. Stamkos is more mature at 20 than Lecavalier has ever been. He’s gotten so good so fast because he’s dedicated to becoming an elite player, and thus works his tail off with Gary Roberts every summer. St. Louis helps from a play making perspective, but from the games I’ve seen, their point totals are mutually beneficial, neither would be as good as the other.

Moen has Cup experience and provides some of the “Grit” you speak of. However; Moen does not have the skill set for 2nd line duties, not with the Habs, or any NHL team.

Ryan White has potential for bottom six duties in Habville and may even be a future upgrade to Moen, as he has grit, solid two way play, a right hand shot, and can take draws when necessary. Currently injured. Keep in mind Ryan would be a bigger Cap hit playing with the big club than Halpern, Boyd, Pyatt, or Darche.

Shultz is just trying to find his way with the Dogs at this point. Not sure anyone could project his potential today.

Pax – happy to see him get an eventual call-up. Would prefer JM / PG wait a bit longer, at least until Pax is dominating not only the Dogs, but the entire AHL. Will he fill that glaring 2nd line hole and offer the Habs power forward skills? Maybe a huge leap, as we see players like Pouliot and Eller not even getting a sniff of 2nd line duties.

24 Cups—Yes the forum was all of that. For me, it was the only place.
It was the center of my home province and yes my country. It was the
center of the universe, even mentioning the name, FORUM,brings goose
bumps.

24 Cups—Yes the forum was all of that. For me, it was the only place. It was the center of my home province and yes my country. It was the center of the universe, even mentioning the name, FORUM,brings goose bumps.

Referring to Mike Boone’s Over/Under re Coaches Corner on Luke Schenn’s fight. How about O/U re Cherry on PK’s supposedly late sucker punch last nite vs. Atlanta’s goon guy? In fact, the Atlanta broadcasters were comparing it to Avery’s cheapshot on the Edmonton guy a week or two ago.

Love that Dave Hodge quote. Thanks for sharing. I grew up going to the Forum, and he captured the essence and importance of the building so well in that paragraph. One other thing I would’ve thrown in is the memory of those cold winter nights, the wind and snow whipping down the main and there were the glowing crossed hockey sticks, warm and inviting, and the air electric…miss that place.

Another poignant quote about the Habs from Hodge during the Centennial season that has always stuck with me:

“Never mind that other teams have been more successful in recent years, because there’s only one team that every team would like to become. It takes 100 years and it takes a certain feeling, beyond words spoken or written, to become.”

My first game at the old Forum was against Pittsburgh . I don’t remember players names. Other games were Philly in 06/07, Buffalo, Boston, Vancouver , Hartford ,Calgary,Chicago, Washington, Rangers. The games were like an event like no other i have experienced..Bell Centre coming close.

I bought a blue seat from the old place when the Forum closed. I should have bought 2. The seat sits proudly in my basement beside TV..

i disagree with your stanley cup formula. brian burke has tried that very same thing with the leafs and they can’t even make the dance. i’ll take tough skill like gionta and cammy any day. 18 moens wouldn’t win 30 games in the nhl. i do agree with pax and white playing, but at the expense of who?

for success tonight, we just need to stick to the same blue print as last night’s game. If Price can hold the fort for the first 30 minutes, Buffalo will fall completely asleep with boredom and we can throw a few in the net.

“And then there was the Montreal Forum, which felt like the home of the Stanley Cup, and was our overwhelming Hodgemail winner. It was a place to behold when it was empty. It smelled like hockey — the apple-red seats seemed freshly-painted for every game, and the ice glistened like no other. And when the Forum filled up and the hot dogs were steaming and the sounds of hockey came in two languages — you felt more than glad to be there — you felt privileged. In saying goodbye to the Forum during a TSN broadcast of the final game in March of 1996, I had the feeling that hockey would never be the same. But surely no arena was ever that important to the game, or maybe the Montreal Forum was.”

One of the things I did notice, even though I had a head full of whiskey last night, is there was this grizzly old dude in the stands first row behind the bench who looked like he’d rather be watching fishing or bowling.

The other thing was the ice, if you want to call it that, was sluggish to say the least.

The long-term implications of what those signings would have done to the roster is the question though, how long does ownership with a half-full building sink money into the team? I can’t see ATL spending to the cap and having 7-9 million sunk into a single player would have likely upset the team balance a little.

I just don’t see a real future in the franchise anymore than I believe Dale Tallon will make something out of the Panthers.

It’s tough to say, they were willing to sign Kovalchuk and Hossa long term. The trick will be to make players want to stay there by building a promising team. That starts with good extension to Kane and Bogosian in a year or so.

They’re still in NSH territory, they won’t be able to afford their talent long-term because of their lousy financial status. They’re improved with what CHI sent them but how long some of that talent stays there is another story, wouldn’t be the first time they had to give up players to afford their internal budget with Ladd, Byfuglien and Bogosian as RFAs next summer.

Personally, I think Benny and Eller should be getting more ice time, they compete and forecheck like nobody’s business. I don’t know why Benny isn’t playing a top-six role — he is a scorer, not a checker. He played well with Gomez and Gio last season. I think Benny’s stock slipped big time in the playoffs, when JM took him off the top six and has kept it that way since.

I am normally content just reading all the cool posts, but all my buds are working and have no one to talk hockey with.

Ive taken alot of flack in my small northern town for defending AK46 the past couple of years. But every backcheck, puck battle and hard working shift this year has made up for it. I think PG really did trade Sergei for Andrei.

Jeff Halpern, needs a nickname BTW (Bugs im looking to you to come up with one), has to be considered one the best bottom 6 forwards in the league so far this season. All the little things he does game in game out has been outstanding.

Gio is rolling, Gomez will follow his lead. Eller can play, and the D is solid. Never thought i could be so optimistic without Markov, but I am loving this team!

Again, Cherry is trying to justify his prophecy that Subban’s cockiness will get him in trouble. Know what? If Subban does get injured or targeted, Cherry will now be partly responsible. In a perverse and indirect way, he’s perpetuating it from his CBC pulpit. It’s surreal! How can this glaringly redneck man, sustained by such little credibility, continue to opine on national TV, funded by us, and get away with it… in an F’n pink suit to boot!

in the face-on replay you can see pyatt never had a chance to look at anything but the puck until the guys stick was under his arm, and never saw gionta, so to call it selfish is a little overbaked. anyhow, do you think think gio would prefer a hat trick or seeing a hardworking kid who kills on the pk get his first of the season?

I honestly do not think Pyatt was trying to be selfish, wasn’t there like a player breathing down his back? Probably didn’t see Gionta…I mean what player doesn’t want another player, on the SAME team get a hat trick? Sorry, not buying the selfish thing

Oh, and congrats to your first game here, best building ever. Never Forget

No Chuck, they are happy Price is playing great, and even though surprised, are all behind him, as he is the goalie for this team. They are disappointed he didn’t get the shutout, and hope he gets one every game.

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The only interesting answers are those which destroy the questions. ~Susan Sontag

Clay, to your response to me on the other page, that’s not the comment I was replying to, so I don’t see how it’s relevant. In fact it was posted after I posted my comment, so how could I possibly have taken it into account when I was writing my comment?

You called the goal weak, which it wasn’t, not even close. My response is that you were taking a shot, maybe I was wrong, but with how much you’ve ragged on Carey Price, many times for no reason, over the last season and a half, can you honestly blame anyone for assuming about your motives?

Come on Clay, my comment was in jest in the first place, so don’t be taking it to heart, but don’t give me back some trumped up BS about how everyone is so mean just because of the name of the post. I read your comment, I responded to THAT comment, end of story.

I think Cherry messes up names on purpose..He said Theo Peckham about 3 times and then proceeded to call him Teddy Pecklin even after Ron corrects him twice. He does this every single time. Tomas Platonik.

Mr. Boone says totally dominate. Not for the first 5 minutes they weren’t, In fact they looked like they did in Atlanta last night. Only for the multiple penalties to the Sabres…….
Miller saved the Sabres this period.
Darche and Pyatt on break aways… well what do ya expect?
Something for you to do. Count the number of bone head plays the Habs make.They are numerous.
I know we scored on 5 on 3 but as we all know the PP sucks.
The Habs are about 3 players away from being a world class team.

D Alexei Yemelin of Ak Bars Kazan has been suspended after incurring two hitting to the head/neck area penalties over 3 games in the KHL, he’s got 41 penalty minutes from two of his last 3 games. Haven’t been able to track down the length of the suspension. Playing on the edge over there.

You know, the instigator rule is just plain stupid. I mean who was the instigator? Moen for defending his teammate, or McCormick for the slash? If happened on the street, who would the police say started it?

Can you not read? You seem somewhat intelligent to me, so you tell me. I think I wrote it quite clearly.

It’s time for you to lose the grudge you have against me. I am all behind Price, because he is the goalie for my team. Read all of my comments instead of being a reactionary.

I tell you and Andrew this, and show you the respect of a reply, because I can see you have sense. But as for Priceberg (the dawg), I give no respect, as he is just an ignorant fu_ktard. Doesn’t it bother you agreeing with that idiot?

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The only interesting answers are those which destroy the questions. ~Susan Sontag

Clay, I just don’t understand why you can’t man up about what you wrote. You criticized Carey’s technique on the goal, then when Andrew called you on it, you pretend like you didn’t even type the sentence in the first place and go into complete avoidance mode.

And no, it doesn’t bother me to agree with Priceberg about Carey. The name calling I could do without, but then again I see that you’re not above a bit of name-calling, either.

as usual, you and hh focus on the minutia and miss the point. you shouldn’t have to sign grinders as free agents. good management should (arguably, must) draft them in salary cap world. i know you won’t comment on the real story, you never do. much easier to find flaws in grammar, spelling and numbers than discuss thoughts.

You’re the one who misses the story, not to mention cannot spell minutiae correctly. You seem to think SF09 and I focus on details and to you these are trifling matters when they are in fact sound arguments which you choose to not refute. You do however sink to ad hominem arguments, as in this case, rather than debate ideas. Do you forget that the Habs let go 10 UFA’s and signed 7 new players? That means 3 extra roster spots were added from within the organization.

Moen was picked up because:

a) he has a Stanley Cup ring and Gainey wanted leadership in the room and on the ice and wanted players who knew what it takes to win 4 playoff rounds.

b) the Habs did not have enough depth to supply such grinders, yet. (does the name Schultz ring a bell)

c) the Habs goal is making the playoffs, and even though they’re in a rebuild it’s the type of rebuild that includes making the playoffs.

as usual, you focus on saying very little, refuting nothing and in essence offering no ideas other than management is to blame for whatever pet peeve you seem to be having at the moment.

So once a grinder becomes a ufa,he shouldn’t be able to find work since nobody should have to sign them? Do you really think more ahlers make the jump to the nhl then 3rd and 4th liners after july 1st with new teams? Not even close.

Moen is an example of what is wrong with the organization. There’s no way in hell a team should have to spend $6 million on a grinder, those players have to be drafted, not purchased on the free agent market. Timmins hasn’t been able to find those types of players in his tenure at all.

For anyone who doesn’t watch South Park, the above comment is cool. Its not what you might think it is. Do not be alarmed.If you start to feel a sense of panic, grab a papaer bag and breath heavily into it.

Really? I don’t think Dominic Hasek gets the credit he deserves. He was, without a doubt, the most dominating goaltender in the modern era of hockey. That 3 or 4 year span in the late 90’s was remarkable. He took a mediocre Buffalo team to the Stanley Cup finals. How mediocre? Their leading scorers throughout the playoffs were two defencemen; Jason Wooley and Alexei Zhitnik – both scoring 15 points in 21 games. Their top scoring forward? Curtis Brown with 13 points in 21 games.

Since Buffalo has never won a Stanley Cup, I think the guy that gave them the best chance deserves number 1.

Not to mention he won the Vezina trophy 6 times in an 8 year span. And the Hart trophy back to back.

Most surprising to me is no sign of Derek Roy. Obviously that franchise doesn’t understand what they have in him. He’s been their best skater since Briere left by a country mile, and he’s the only reason Vanek is still considered a top 6 forward after his near season long slumps.

Most dominant? No, that was Roy, but I would definitely put him #2, in front of Brodeur. I always liked the little guy and his fish out of water style, but the most dominant goalie, atleast when it mattered, was #33.

Mike – I hear what you’re saying but Perreault was the face of the franchise right from the beginning and is still the leader in all major scoring stats. He also played his whole career there (18 years).

I think if you polled the fans in Buffalo, most would go with Perreault.

For a commentator, he comes off as a little too cocky. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good to be cocky, you just don’t want to make people angry. Because… you know, we as fans aren’t going to hurt him, but somebody else might.

He simply stated what he thought was best for his development, and he was right. It wasn’t his fault that the media portrayed his words in a context that pointed to his usage by Martin last season. All Max is interested in is this season, and progression into a top six role. If anything, the comment showed that the kid knows where his challenge is at. Had Louis Leblanc said the same thing in that context, he’d be aplauded.

To be fair, MaxPac provided more than enough of the context on his own. The direct quotes clearly indicated he preferred Carbo’s coachin’ style to JM’s.

The issue isn’t whether he is right or wrong. The issue is whether or not a pro is doin’ himself any favours by makin’ comments in the media that may reflect badly, however mildly, on his ostensible NHL head coach, even at the hands of a wily sports pundit who saw a doe-eyed deer and turned on the headlights.

It was a rookie mistake and has obviously blown over, much as it was expected to.

Put another way, I can absolutely guarantee you that was the first and last time you’ll ever see him comment in the media like that.

“I’ve never felt that’s the way to build me up as a player and that’s kinda why last year I felt as the season went on, I felt my confidence was down a bit and even got worse,” he said. “We’re gaining it all back right now. I was in the doghouse every time I made a mistake and that’s what got me sent down and turned my confidence to the negative side,” said Pacioretty. “When I was first called up with Carbo (Guy Carbonneau) as the coach, he gave me all the confidence in the world. Put me in situations to succeed and at times I did and if I didn’t he didn’t punish me. Regained my confidence by him telling me I’m playing well and he’d still give me a fair amount of minutes.”

Robert, Max had already made his bed long before any headlines hit the wire. The headlines were the inevitable fallout and, frankly, I would have been stunned if they hadn’t shown up. You and I both live in Montreal – at least I think you do – and know how even the most benign comments can be blown out of proportion.

My own initial reaction to MP was based on reading the quotes, not a headline. I could only shake my head and snicker a bit, you know, in that “ah, you goofy kid” kinda way.

On another note, the notion that PG or JM will hold this against MP – not somethin’ you’re suggestin’, but a notion that exists out there – ignores the fact that neither PG nor JM is a petulant child. They’re runnin’ a business and know exactly what went down and why.

Detroit Red Wings forward Mike Modano has undergone surgery after suffering a laceration from a skate blade on his right wrist during a game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night. The veteran will be out of the lineup indefinitely depending on the progress of his recovery.

I’m just sayin’ Dion Ferry — or whatever his name is — doh, is actin’ pretty cocky and you just don’t do that wearin’ a flashy pink outfit and all. YOU GOTTA SHOW RESPECT KIDS. Don’t go shootin’ your trap off like that or somebody’s gonna give you a fat lip.

I think Cherry should show his face in Montreal at the rink one of these days instead of being in his little shell in Toronto. Come to the rink Don, let Habs fans greet you. Seriously. What’s a couple of beers on your head during your live segment worth?

Yahoos have been running around accusing Subban of sucker punching Bogosian yesterday when they were tied up and the gloves were off. Your gloves are off with another player, keep your guard up, I don’t like NHL fighting and I know that.

Don Cherry is a very wealthy man for one simple reason: he has perfected a public persona that he plays to perfection.

Those who mistake his successful entertainment shtick for the ral person — or, worse, who affect in preening self-superiority a belief that ‘he can’t be that smart in real life’ — well, check your bank account against his and see who’s the idiot…. (HINT: he makes millions from being sneered at by smug urban elites.)

Nobody is asking you to like him — but you are being expected to understand exactly what it is you are disliking….

I don’t respect people who play the fool for their own enrichment and ego. I understand he embellishes his shtick but I find it reprehensible, he favours himself an example and someone ‘the kids listen to’ and he spits out xenophobic venom, mocks protective visors and never admits a mistake.

On the other hand they WILL wake up tomorrow in 6th place with the 7th place team 2 points back with 2 games in hand… Including the fact they have 2 players in the top 5 in scoring and are still a -4….

The no goalie comments always make me laugh when we were upset PG couldn’t keep Ellis…

You know I was kind of wondering what he meant as well. And then I figured that there’s no way he would have defended Myers over Subban, because of how, you know, Montreal owned his @ss for so many years.

He makes a lot more sense with the mute button on…….. .

A man’s attitude… a man’s attitude goes some ways. The way his life will be. Is that somethin’ you agree with?

What I don’t understand, is how Lindy Ruff has such power over the officials. Buffalo is being completely outplayed and they’re hooking and holding all over the place to slow the Habs down, but no calls since Ruff blew his wad.

we will have more bad games and we will be shutout a few more times this year…but the season is long and the key is to make the playoffs with no more major injuries…the goaltending has been great and so has the pk and overall d play…5 on 5 scoring has been way better than last year…now unless there is a trade or we get one of our forwards on the team or one of our ahl forwards scoring at an unexpected pace our scoring will not increase by much and we will be stuck in the 21-24 goal scoring range…the only way to increase our scoring is thru the pp…i hope i am wrong but the players (besides pk) we use on the point will not produce…if martin keeps putiing out basically our entire d on pp point duty by the end of the year we will have one of the worst pp in the nhl…pk is young and inexperienced but he is the only hope that our pp will get better…it is unbelievable how many pp faceoffs we loose in the attacking zone which usually results in the puck being cleared and we loose pp time…i know plecks has played well but he continues to be horrible at winning faceoffs in both the attacking zone and defensive zone(our pk has survived this)

It’s time to affix Gomez’ butt firmly to the bench or the pressbox. I cannot understand why he’s still getting so much ice, as the idea of giving him the time to work out of his slump is clearly an abject failure. A new approach that says, “Giving you a lot of ice-time to work out of your slump has failed. Time to try something else, namely, a whole lot LESS ice-time. Enjoy the bench, and if that doesn’t work, the press box.”

Good to see the 3 – 0 result so far, but this cannot excuse Gomez’ poor play and lack of production. Only a few other guys in the league who make as much and have done so little for the dough. Drury and Horcoff come to mind, as did Lecavalier before his injury. C’mon, Martin, do something radical before Gomez gets even more comfortable with his terrible results than he already seems to be–it’s all well to talk about wins being more important than personal success (as it is largely true), but I thought it came off almost, well, blase when Gomez said it the other day. As if he doesn’t care either way. Maybe I’m reading too much into it.

Regardless, it’s time he earned his money, or sat to make room for Halpern and others to get the job done. He can’t be bought out, not realistically, a trade is not gonna happen, and as rich as the team is, burying him like Finger or Redden is just too damn costly. Sitting him and hoping that it works might be the only option we still have here.

Benching Gomez is all fine and dandy but who are you going to get to centre the 2nd line? JM won’t let Eller do it so that leaves Halpern and Laps really. Neither one should be centring the 2nd line. I don’t think Gomez needs to be reminded that he’s not playing well.

Let’s see…14-8-1, 1st in the division, 3rd in the conference, 5th in the league. Yep, certainly seems like the time to panic.

Reviewing the comments from last night and this morning gave me a good chuckle. We have every possible thoery being put forth including, but not limited to; trouble in the room due to internal strife, MAB being touted as our PP saviour, our backup tender is a sieve, it was all Gill’s fault and such perennial favorites as Gomez sucks, we’re too small and the answer to everything is NAG.

Then again, that’s why this interweb thingy was invented. It allows anyone, anywhere at any time to put forth any type of crackpot theories or musings rumbling around in your head or whispered to you by that damn closet monkey. Personally I close my closet door and don’t let the idiot out too often and when he does speak to me I never repeat his advice. Well, not always but rarely, ya know?

I have no theories to bring forth at this time. Just support for the team.